As the school term for 2015 comes to a close, the babies reached another milestone. Jolie completed her preschool and will go to Primary school next year. Jayden completed his playgroup and will move on to the same preschool as his sister, Hope Kindergarten, next year. The last day of school has been quite hectic. Jayden got a performance party in his school while Jolie had to miss her last day of school party to attend orientation at her new school.
After all the hustle and bustle, I finally had the time to reflect on how fast time flies and how much my babies has grown. I dug up photos of their 1st day of school and the difference was startling! I forgot how freaking adorable my babies were. How much they have changed!
Jolie started to go to Hope Kindergarten on 2013. Look how sweet and precious she looked! So fair and pretty like a porcelain doll!
I was learning the ropes of being a stay-at-home mother to 2 children and it was not easy! Missed alot of blog posts during that period.
My sweet princess...
After 3 years, the skirt shrank, the shoes were covered in dirt and she's much more tan from taking swimming lessons.
Considerable number of teeth missing too! But still the cheeky girl. Haha..
Jayden on Jolie's 1st day of school. I forgot how adorable he was! Cheerful baby saying goodbye to 姐姐!
After a blink of an eye, 2 years have passed and Jayden started going to playgroup at the beginning of 2015.
Throughout the year I worry for him. As he was born near the end of the year, (November) I worry that he cannot catch up academically. It didn't help that his classmates were all very chatty and bright little children.
But I decided not to stress myself out and let nature take it's course. Important thing is that he is a happy, healthy and bright child. See how much he's grown in just one year!
One year on and he grows more cheeky by the day! Makes my blood boil but can also melt my heart with a smile and a sweet little kiss!
The relationship between the siblings are so unlike mine. All day long they fight, bicker and disturb each other. But when they are not fighting, there is so much love and laughter between them. The brother would ask for the sister to carry him, they would hug and play with each other. So extreme!
I hope that they will stay close with each other even when they are all grown up. And never forget that the same blood flows inside them. I love you my babies! Can't wait to witness more milestones coming your way!
Last week the news announced that NParks revamped Coney Island and now people can actually cycle to the island! I wanted to bring the kids there the moment I heard about it, but how are we going to bring our bicycles all the way to Punggol? Besides, Cobby doesn't have any bicycle. Sigh..
Cobby later read that there are actually bicycle rental shops there, so that settles it! Yeah!
We arrived there around 9.30am so that it wouldn't be too hot. But thankfully the haze provided some shelter from the sun so it was hazy, warm and not too sunny. Is that a good thing? Honestly I don't know. So confusing!
I'm so glad that we all got the bicycles we needed! Jolie finally LEVEL UP to a two-wheeled bicycle. My baby girl is growing up so fast, I'm so proud of her! (emo...)
I got a bike with a child seat for Jayden. I would prefer the Mama-bike, but they don't have bigger child seats for those. Felt a little awkward. It's been SOOO long since I rode a mountain bike.
Cobby got his regular bike and off we go! I read that it's 2.4km? So I was quite surprised when it took less than 5 minutes to cycle across a short bridge to Coney Island! What? Maybe 2.4km is the bicycle track within the island? And there were so many people! Maybe because it was a Sunday? In that case WHY they left the bloody gate closed? Everybody had to squeeze through the small little side gate. Just to let people take photo of the gate? Really?
When we got in we felt a little lost. In front of us were 2 different routes. One is a narrow cemented road while the other is wide but rough gravel road. Most pedestrians took the nicely paved narrow cement road, but it's definitely too narrow to share with cyclists. The gravel road is much wider, but I was worried that it would lead to difficult and rough terrain. Can the kids handle it? Also, the crowd was really staring to annoy me. I come here for some peace and serenity. Would it be this much people throughout the whole island?
I was feeling abit flustered when I saw some ladies cycle out from the gravel road. Aiyah, heck it lah! If those "aunties" can do it, so can I! So we just hopped on our bikes and cycled down the wide gravel road.
Once we started to cycle away from the gates, we were surprised how nice the place was! The surrounding was natural and untouched, the road was wide with not too many people. My favourite part was that if you stop and stay really still, you can experience a kind of muted silence you don't get in mainland Singapore.
It's wonderful...
So we've decided to cycle all the way across the island 1st (see blue line), before turning back and checking out all the stops along the way. It didn't take long to cycle across the island.
On the way back, one of the side routes lead to a small beach. We took the opportunity to rest our bums.
There was a notice saying there are sand flies, so we didn't stay long. Jolie is a bug magnet. Maybe because she's so sweet!
Jayden was busy pouring sand onto his sister's sandals. Haha.. he's such a jerk to his sister sometimes..
At the next exit we found a boardwalk running parallel with a mangrove stream. So beautiful and serene! The boardwalk was elevated so it was quite nerve wrecking watching Jolie cycle through it.
The boardwalk also led us to the beach but this area was more fun. That was where the mangrove meets the sea, so we saw schools of little fishes in the clear water.
Seems like a perfect time and place for a picnic, we settled down to have our sandwiches by the beach. Say Ham and CHEESE!!!
OK so maybe sitting on the beach at mid day was a little too hot and glaring. So I suggested moving our picnic to the side of the mangrove stream. The giant stone blocks would be great as we can sit and watch the little creatures of the mangrove scurry around as we eat. I think it's great that NParks had the hindsight to put up these blocks. When it's high tide the water would be contained safely within these stone blocks. They even made a wooden barrier so people who accidentally fall in would not be swept out to sea! Good thinking!
After our sandwiches we had apples! Jolie decided to climb down to better observe the mangrove critters.
If you sit real still, you can see so many creatures moving around on the sandy grounds of the mangrove. We saw fishes, tiny crabs, mud skippers and some bugs that we don't know what they are. Hmm, maybe they should put up signboards. Or maybe an App! Information of the commonly spotted animals / insects in Coney island! Hmm maybe I should suggest this to NParks.
While cycling out on the boardwalk again, what we dreaded really came through. Jolie lost balance of her bicycle and fell off the boardwalk!
I was cycling in front when I heard a crash, followed by Jolie's cries. I quickly turned and rushed back to her. Poor baby was sobbing as we checked for injuries, but no blood was found. I think the bicycle hit her arms and legs. And she got a bad fright from falling off. After resting a while Cobby decided we push the bicycle out to the main gravel road instead, and I didn't complain.
At the end of the boardwalk Jolie shouted to us that there was a butterfly on the track. We saw this species of butterfly all over the little island. Jayden and I stopped for a photo op!
After awhile I realised that the little thing wasn't planning to move. But the other cyclist would crush it! So picked it up and wanted to move it, but Jayden was so excited and asked to hold it. I was surprised he wasn't squeamish, but the moment the butterfly wriggled, he threw it away. Haha..
OK, enough fooling around. I quickly picked it up again and put it in the bushes. If it wanted to rest, at least rest somewhere safe.
We cycled all the way back to Punggol after that. It was getting more and more hazy and I can tell Jolie was getting tired. Amazingly we have cycled for close to 2 hours, which was the longest Jolie have ever cycled. So we quickly returned the bikes and headed home for a cool shower. Amazing fun!
OK, we got a good rest yesterday with a relaxing itinerary. Today we go to Hong Kong Ocean Park! Cobby kept thinking of the delicious french toast from Australian Dairy Co., so we had breakfast there again before heading out.
There's a bus that goes directly to Ocean Park and it's just behind our hotel! I know I sound like a broken record, but our hotel is freaking awesome or what? It's an express bus so it takes the tunnel and we reached our destination in only 3 stops! What.. I've never taken a bus to Ocean Park before so this was new to me. Felt like a local taking a bus with the kids to the amusement park.
There was a slight drizzle but it stopped by the time we got there. Besides, we've gotten used to the rain by now. We're here!
Activate our selfie stick!
One thing about Ocean Park is that it's so big and all the attractions were all spread out over the whole mountain. Since no one was hungry yet, we took our time and checked out their Aqua City section. Besides, once it stops raining, IT WAS FREAKING HOT! With no more clouds to protect us from the fury of the sun, it felt like our skin was sizzling and it was so bright it hurts our eyes. So we quickly headed inside the aquarium and enjoyed the aircon and dim lights. Watching the fishes was so therapeutic, but I've got the Singapore pride in me, I felt that our S.E.A Aquarium is better! haha..
Next up we visited the Pandas! We were lucky enough that one of the Pandas was having lunch and sitting in a nice pose for everyone to see!
Everybody was so excited seeing the Panda awake and up close. Cameras were clicking furiously, kids and adults were cooing, "ooohhs" and "awwws" and "so cuute!". The Panda was charming everyone just by sitting there! Haha.. So cute.
It's lunch time, but the restaurant was at the top of the mountain. And we keep coming across things we want to see, pictures we want to take and rides we have to go!!
It was so hot!Thankfully we got our umbrellas and some great hats I bought from 庙街.
But the time we got to the cable car, there was a huge line. (as expected) The staff said that queuing time was about 45mins! I can't wait that long as it was already lunch time for the kids. So we took the staff's suggestion to take the Ocean Express up the mountain. Within minutes, we were on top of the mountain!
We quickly headed to the restaurant there and ate our lunch. As usual, the portions were crazily huge. I only need to order one plate of food for the kids to share and even then they couldn't finish it. I love the view from the restaurant though.
After lunch we headed out for more fun, but Jayden just KO-ed shortly after we put him in his stroller. We wanted to see the view from the Ocean Park tower, but the stroller wouldn't fit inside, so Cobby offered to stay with Jay while Jo and I go for the ride. OMG I forgot how obnoxious the Chinese tourists were! While queuing, we experienced the ugliness of it all.
Tour group A was screaming at people from tour group B for cutting queue.
Tour group B was trying explain that it's OK for people to cut queue as long as they know each other.
Ocean Park staff screaming at people from B.
Me and Jo right in the middle of these 3 groups of screaming people. STFU!!!!!
Anyway... Although the queuing was hot, sweaty and a little traumatic, the view was really something.
Jayden was still sleeping by the time we got out. I wanted to find an air conditioned place to hide Jayden like we did at Disneyland, but unfortunately there weren't many indoor places at Ocean Park. Finally we found this Shark Mystic.
But the staff say strollers not allowed inside! WTF! Oh well, what to do? Once again one of us had to stay with Jay outside while the other took Jo inside the attraction. Thankfully it was nice and breezy under the tree shade and not many loud PRC tourists around to disturb my little Prince's slumber.
There were many fantastic looking rides at Ocean Park but not many were suitable for young children. When Jay woke up we rode the Ferris wheel together and I was glad we could have fun as a family for once.
Because of all the steep hills and long distance between each areas, we were tired out very soon. I insisted on riding the cable car, because to me, it was the main attraction of the whole place. We know the cable car queue was going to be long, so we left early in order to be back in Kowloon in time for dinner. Just as expected, the queue took forever!!! I think we queued for almost an hour before getting to the cable cars, but it was worth it! I love riding cable cars. :)
We decided that the bus was the most straightforward form of transport back, but after missing just one bus, we waited SO LONG for another bus to come! It probably wasn't that long, but we were tired, sweaty and sticky with no place to sit. It was getting dark, it was hot and humid and mosquitoes were feasting on us while we queue. On top of that, the kids were cranky from exhaustion and hunger. I almost cried when we couldn't get on one of the buses as it was too crowded. T_T
When we finally got on the bus, it was like heaven.. Air conditioned, bright and clean heaven. Some more got a kind soul offered his seat so that I can seat together with Jayden. T_T
By the time we dropped off it was already 8 plus at night. Haiz, just thinking of walking some more to find food makes me very sianz. Was almost contemplating the horrible 翠华 or even MacDonald's when suddenly, I saw some lights in the dark alley!
Upon further investigation we found a restaurant tucked away from the main street.
There was actually a queue outside, so that is surely a good sign right? When we got in, which didn't take long, we were pleasantly surprised. The name of the place is called Tai Ping Koon Restaurant and I know we have struck gold when we stepped inside.
The inside of the restaurant is very retro and it was filled with local customers! The staff were all pretty old and everyone was dressed in suit and tie. Kind of reminds me of shashlik restaurant in Singapore. The food was a fusion of East and West because the original Chinese chef worked for the English and had mixed the 2 cuisines together.
We were so tired and hungry, we quickly ordered. The food was so yummy!!! Cobby ordered baked ox tail in port wine. We were so excited we forgot to take a picture. Got this from the web, but it looks exactly like this. The meat was so tender and the flavour was phenomenal! T_T
I ordered this baked chicken with rice for the kids. Usually we eat baked rice the rice is under the chicken. But they only baked the chicken and the rice comes separately. The chicken was so tender and moist, baked with a creamy and delicious gravy. It was so good..
The highlight was their signature dish, swiss chicken wing.
This is a common Hong Kong dish but they say that THEY INVENTED THE DISH. 真的吗???? I don't care who invented it, I only know that it was the MOST DELICIOUS STEWED CHICKEN WINGS I HAVE EVER EATEN. I think it's the sauce? I don't know. It's sweet, it's savoury, it's tender. It's delicious!
Everything dish we ordered was so delicious!!! Except for mine, which was only ok.. I can't help myself. I have yet to have a satisfactory plate of stir fry beef horfun in Hong Kong, so I was kind of obsessed with ordering it everywhere I went.
My so-so beef hor fun..
I was so proud that I was the one that found the restaurant! If it wasn't for my keen eye, we wouldn't have known such a wonderful piece of history! *PROUD*
After a satisfying meal, we walked across the road back to our hotel. What a day! Full of ups and down. Thankfully it ended with a wonderful dinner!
